Category: media

“One studio’s delayed theatrical title became another studio’s new original streaming film. While some focused on remounting pipeline productions, others fast-tracked new productions that allowed for contained stories with minimal casts. Big-ticket packages were purchased with the hope of a future return to theaters and franchise films rejiggered to allow for back-to-back production of installments. Ahead of 2021, The Hollywood Reporter takes a closer look at how each studio’s film division is traversing the new landscape.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“The Electronic Frontier Foundation has argued that it could mean huge fines for individuals sharing copyrighted material on social media. ‘The CASE Act could mean internet users facing $30,000 penalties for sharing a meme or making a video,’ it wrote earlier. ‘It has no place in must pass legislation.’ It noted that if an individual is hit with a CASE claim, they would need to reply to the Copyright Office ‘in a very specific way, within a limited time’ to avoid a steep fine.” – Engadget

“It’s been less than two weeks since Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) released his proposal to increase the penalties for those who would dare stream unlicensed works. … It’s had very little time to circulate before evidently becoming part of the spending package. If passed, illegal streaming of works including movies and music tracks could carry a penalty of up to 10 years in jail. That’s not the only change to copyright law, either.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“The grants will provide much-needed relief to these venues, many of which have seen their business all but vanish as the pandemic canceled concerts and stage plays, while pushing almost all new theatrical releases to 2021. These particular grants, however, appear to disqualify the three largest players in the domestic movie theater business: AMC, Cinemark and Regal Cinemas owner Cineworld.” – The Hollywood Reporter

As Disney concluded in his column, “We like to enjoy ourselves in crowds, at sports arenas, at picnics, fairs and carnivals, at concerts and in the theatre. … People are always going to demand and enjoy movies in the theatre. Perhaps not as exclusively as they did when public amusements were more limited. But with a big potential share” of people’s entertainment budgets, “we must compete as never before.” – Variety

The legendarily white dude company also finally has a Black writer for a Pixar film: The same person as the director, playwright Kemp Powers, for the movie Soul, out on Christmas Day (on Disney Plus, of course). Powers was hired to help make the main character work. But he’s not exactly proud of his “first” status: “It’s an embarrassing mantle. … Why did it take so damned long?” – Washington Post

The film, Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy about a young gay Sri Lankan man coming of age during the beginnings of a horrific civil war, has “too much English dialogue.” Last year, two films (the submissions from Austria and Nigeria) were disqualified for the same reason. – The Hollywood Reporter

There’s a reason (beyond who’s paying whom), but it’s not easy for restaurant owners dealing with another shutdown and little relief to enjoy seeing film shoots near their closed dining facilities. On sets, it’s all about tracking, tracing, and control. – LAist